Many Manchester City players have shown what they’re capable of on the international stage this summer.
After helping Pep Guardiola’s side win a fourth Premier League trophy in a row, 14 members of City’s squad were chosen to represent their nations in the 2024 European Championship.
With many of them now having been knocked out of the tournament, a pundit has shared his verdict on how one particular City figure got on during his time in Germany.
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Paul Merson says Kevin De Bruyne looked ordinary during Euro 2024
In a recent edition of Football’s Greatest, Merson discussed how much of an impact it has on players when they’re featuring alongside high-quality players.
This then led to the pundit saying this about how Kevin De Bruyne performed in the Belgium team during their time at the Euros recently.
He said: “I always know you’ve got to be around good players. [If] you’re not around good players, it’s difficult.
“And we see that with Kevin De Bruyne. For how great Kevin De Bruyne is, if he ain’t around people like [Bernardo] Silva and Rodri and [Erling] Haaland and [Phil] Foden, he’s just another player.
“He was just another player the other day [against France].”
De Bruyne was let down by his international teammates at Euro 2024
As one of the three outfield players to play every minute of action for Belgium, who were knocked out by France in the knockout stage of the tournament, De Bruyne showed that he was the best performer in the squad.
In addition to being one of the two players to score a goal for the Red Devils, De Bruyne, who City paid £54m to sign back in 2015, also made more key passes (12) and recoveries (16) than any other Belgian player.
His overall performances earned the midfielder, who Stuart Pearce said still has what it takes to play on the international stage, a tournament rating of 7.35/10 from WhoScored, comfortably making him the highest-rated player in Domenico Tedesco’s ranks.
This highlights how much the other Belgian players let De Bruyne down during the tournament and why Merson thinks the City star was disadvantaged by it.
